NH’s Shumaker in NYC for Ready for Hillary national summit

As a select group of Hillary Clinton supporters from across the country converge on New York City for the Ready for Hillary super PAC’s National Finance Council meeting on Friday, a key New Hampshire Democrat is among them.

Former Democratic National Committeeman Terry Shumaker, a supporter of Hillary and former President Bill Clinton for nearly a quarter of a century, confirmed Thursday night he is attending the summit in his role as New Hampshire senior adviser to the super PAC.

Shumaker has been involved in “Ready for Hillary” since it was formed in New Hampshire more than a year-and-a-half ago. He was Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago during the Clinton administration and as a New Hampshire DNC member in 2995, was a staunch defender of the New Hampshire primary’s leadoff status when members from other states, led by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, tried unsuccessfully to dilute its role in the presidential nominating process.

“Ready for Hillary has been successful beyond any of our expectations,” Shumaker said, “and some of us were wary at the beginning of whether we wanted to get involved. But I am very glad that I did. It’s provided a place for all of that pent up enthusiasm to encourage her to run to go. And it’s been constructive in that it has been a place for young people who want to get involved in politics. Instead of holding seminars, we actually sent them to work on real campaigns.”

Shumaker said 3 million volunteers have signed up nationally, “far more than when Hillary Clinton ended her campaign in 2008.”

“Nothing like this has ever been done before,” he said. “Ready for Hillary has more people signed up and more contributors than every other super PAC combined in the history of super PACs, and the average contribution has been under $100.

“We are the opposite of the other super PACs that have 10 donors and buys television ads,” Shumaker said. “We buy no television ads. We are a grassroots organization, and now that the midterm election is over, we will talk about the next step.”

Last weekend, Shumaker and other longtime Clinton supporters were in Little Rock, Ark., for the 10th anniversary of William J. Clinton Presidential Center.

Shumaker said other current and former Granite State Clinton supporters who attended included Ricia MacMahon, Stephanie Powers, Deb Crapo, Alice Chamberlin and George Bruno.

“That was a reunion, a look back, and it was a lot of fun,” he said. “This is looking ahead.”

He said the group gathering in New York, which he anticipated will be more than 100, will hear from Ready for Hillary (title) Adam Parkhomenko, national senior adviser Craig Smith, among others.

“We expect to receive an update on what we’ve done across the country, which is a lot,” during the midterm elections.

In New Hampshire, he said, the super PAC gave the state party $60,000, ran phone banks prior to and on Election Day and held many organizing events to help the Democratic campaigns at the top of the ticket, where three of four Democrats were reelected in the face of a GOP tide that swept most of the rest of the country.

“I give most of the credit to the campaigns,” Shumaker said, “but we helped them all and we’re proud of that.”

Shumaker said that while the group is urging Clinton to run, “none of us know what she’s going to announce or where she’s going to announce it” and stressed the group has “no coordination” with the Clinton inner circle.